noise

I gave my daughter a box of those Valentine’s candy hearts to eat and every time she crunches down on one it is like a spear going through my head. 

Next time, remember to go for the softer ones. 

I hate noise.

Hate it. 

Like Jeckyll and Hyde hate it.

I hate crunching, chewing, snapping, typing, clicking, clacking, humming, popping, sucking, clipping, clicking, tapping. 

I have an intense fear of being stuck in an elevator with a bunch of people snapping gum.

Or eating popcorn.

Or typing on keyboards.

Or clipping nails. 

Oh, the torture!

I was thrilled when I saw an article in Time Magazine recently that indicated I was not alone.

But it also indicated that perhaps the best way to conquer the phobia is to face it head on – by being exposed to those noises you hate the most until you mentally figure out that it’s just noise, accept it, and move on. 

I do feel part of my problem is mental, because, with the exception of those candy hearts and an occasional piece of gum, my children’s noise-making tendencies don’t bother me in the least.

In fact, I even think I might say with them I can tune out the annoyances. 

If only this worked with everyone else. 

Fortunately I do just fine when there is plenty of other background noise to distract me (like at a restaurant or noisy family gathering). 

But when it is quiet and all my brain has to focus on is the sound (s) that is when I feel myself getting ready to lose it.  Transform.   

Call it my inner Mr. Hyde I guess. 

So the thought of facing my phobia head on in the hopes of getting past it??

Hmmm.  

I rather like my approach of avoidance better.  And if that fails I fall back to my secondary plan of glaring. 

And thirdly? 

Earplugs are the best invention ever. 

PS:  No, none of these noises bother me when I am the one making them!! 

wordless wednesday: whatcha waving at?

Bloggography Challenge, Week 2

This week we were asked you to step out of auto mode and learn how to use our ISO. The weeks them was children’s play things. Find the tutorial here. 

I took many pictures in manual without the flash, using only ISO, including the two I put in my last post.  Because we were outside and the day was decent the ISO was set to 400.

Here is another one:

Hope you can tell what “toy” he was playing with.  :)

Here are a few other manually taken pictures that I liked.  All the indoor ones were taken with ISO 1600 although I tried very hard to get some good ones using only 800. 

Be sure it visit Manic Mother or Lolli if you want to play along.

Happy Tuesday!! 

A kid free post?

Okay, so I just decided to sit down and write a blog post. 

A real one.

One full of witty words and content that is sure to keep you entertained, for a couple minutes at least.

Perhaps, dare I say, a KID-FREE post?

Then I sat down.

 

 

Okay, I was already sitting.

 

 

Reading too many blog posts. 

I participated in Friday Follow today. 

Why would I add my name to the list, hosted by One 2 Try, Hearts Make Families and Midday Escapades, when I already follow way too many blogs for my own good?  Why, why, why? 

Because it’s fun and there are so many great blogs out there.  And I am approaching 200 followers and I like the sound of that.

Anyways, back to my great story.

So I was already sitting, getting ready to churn out some delightful words in a post that would not be about my kids. 

But then my son woke up.

An hour early (at least according to my mommy radar of how long that Little Guy should sleep). 

So I guess I will go get him.

And, sigh, I guess I will include a picture.

Or two.

We had lovely, wonderful, not at all winter-like weather here this week.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.

Wordless Wednesday

Team donkey

Can you spot my donkey?

 

I think this is one of the first pictures the photographer snapped before Hannah warmed up a bit:

a post for friday

I love to pet the cat!

But sure mom, I’ll amaze and astound your readers by pointing to my belly and facial features. 

But don’t expect me to sit too long!  This cat won’t hang out here forever!!

Meanwhile, in another part of the house, someone else was keeping busy too…

She popped every one of those suckers, much to the displeasure of my aching ears!

focus on Books

I love to read although it is not something I have much time to do.  My mom loves to read and she has shared her love of reading with all of her children.

However, she also shares her books! 

While I LOVE getting all the latest titles for free, I must admit my “to read” pile is getting a little overwhelming!

And this doesn’t even include the “to read” books I have stashed in my downstairs book shelf!

The “History of Basketball” book you see towards the front of the stack belongs to my husband. 

Sometimes he reads too. 

And why is Scooby Doo sitting there so stoically guarding the books in my bedroom?

Well, my daughter got a few Scooby’s for Christmas and THIS particular Scooby Doo is holding a flashlight which, if it’s dark and you shake him, shines a light of a ghost on the while while Scooby shakes and goes “I’m scaaaaaaared!”. 

Hannah took him to bed one night to “play” with while she was getting ready to go to sleep. 

Within 2 hours she was screaming about the ghosts and Scooby has since taken up residence in our room ever since. 

But I digress.

If I am ever to catch up on this massive pile of books, I must make my “read” pile a little bit bigger. 

Here is what I have read since December:

Wish me luck! 

Oh, and I use Goodreads to keep track of what I am reading.  If you are on there, or want to join up, be sure to add me as your friend so I can see what you read too! 

you know it’s garbage day when…

Alternatively titled: You know you need to clean your windows, when…

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I was trying to use this picture for my “Winter” photo submission on Manic Mother:

Why?  Because she has snowmen on her shirt of course.  That is very wintery!  I took the picture with my manual setting, but I wish it had turned out a little bit “sharper”.  Photoshop didn’t help much either.  I’ll try to do better next time.  My camera and I are still getting to know each other.  It’s been a year now, I should probably move on to the next stage of our relationship. 

Something I need to, ahem, focus on. 

Of course within 10 minutes of the above pictures Hannah was ready to move on to another outfit.

Her third change of the day, not including jammies. 

It was 10 AM!

focus on: getting better

I feel like I am finally over the illnesses that have been my BFF since December 26th.

Last week was the worst. 

Focus I did not. 

I have no idea what I will be focusing on this week besides just getting better and feeling stronger. 

But hopefully I will get the camera out so I have more than just a couple pictures to share with everyone. 

Hope you are all off to a healthy week!

Focus

When I read Yaya’s post about picking a word to live by instead of writing down resolutions I thought about what my word might be. 

I am often thinking, not just at New Year’s, about what I want and need to do in my life to continually improve.

There is so much I want to do.  So much I want to learn. 

But how?  When?  With what time? 

So my word this year is “focus”. 

Focus on taking care of ME.

Focus on taking care of my family.

Focus on being a better mom (granted, I’m pretty darn good but there’s always room to improve! )

Focus on getting things done around the house and not always waiting for the mood to strike.

Focus on taking better pictures.

Focus on learning more about photo editing.

Focus.

If I were to sit down and make a list of 5-10 MOST important things in my life, blogging and reading blogs would not be on that list. 

Would it be on yours?

Yet, I spend a lot of my spare time trying to keep my Google reader at zero. 

And that is me,

Unfocused. 

I love blogging and I have no intention of stopping……

but, I apologize in advance if I do not come around as often to say hi.  I won’t be offended if you do the same. 

I’ve got some focusing to do. 

Together